Trip to Navy Maritime Museum and USS Constellation

Donnie

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Hi Folks,
just wanted to let everyone know I am going to Washington D.C. The trip is mostly so that the Admiral can visit her family. She is from the Philippines and will get a chance to see her mother as it has been many years.

While we are there, we are going to (or plan to) visit the Navy Museum and the USS Constellation in Maryland as well.

All, I know is that it will be within the week of May 15, 2017 but I am not sure exactly what day of the visit to the museums.

Donnie
 
I hope both you and your wife enjoy the trip and the time to renew family ties. Also, looking forward to hear about your impressions of the Maritime Museum.
 
If you're going to the Washington Navy Yard Museum please check out their visiting policies. It's not an open and easily accessible museum:
https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/about-us/plan-your-visit.html

The Constellation is O.K. for a quick visit but has lost some of it appeal since they figured out it is not the USS Constellation frigate. If you do go there you may wish to visit the Baltimore Aquarium adjacent to it. It's one of the best. If you've never visited the US Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis it's less than an hour from DC and well worth the visit. Annapolis is a lovely seaside town and the museum houses the finest navy board model collection in the US.If you've only a day, I'd choose Annapolis over Baltimore.
 
Thank you dvm. I will keep the Annapolis in mind - I read that link and I see what you mean. I will probably visit the Annapolis instead. I hate to admit, but the history of the ships, I am not as well versed. There is just so much out there I do not know.

I did not know any difference in the USS Constellation and the "Frigate" you were referring to. So, is the USS Constellation on display, not really the USS Constellation? I guess I am confused. Maybe you can shed some light on it for me.

Thanks
Donnie
 
Not really the ship?
I was wanting to go see the ship as well Donnie. I have the Artesania Latina model of it and its 3rd in line I am going to build.
http://www.historicships.org/constellation.html

I found this little tidbit on the ship, Odd site "Ghost Hunters LOL" Here is link to the site with the quote http://ghostsoldiers.tv/id57.html
Identity controversy

For some time there was controversy over whether or not the 1854 sloop was a new ship or a rebuilt version of the 1797 frigate. Much of the controversy was created when the city of Baltimore promoted the ship and even rebuilt sections of the ship to resemble the 1797 frigate. Geoffrey M. Footner maintained the view in his book, USS Constellation: From Frigate to Sloop of War, that she was in fact, the original frigate though greatly modified. Additionally, when the ship was to be rebuilt in the 1990s, naval historians who favored the theory that the ship was indeed the 1797 original relied on three main points:
Some of the funds used to build the sloop were originally allocated to rebuild the frigate.
Some timbers from the broken-up frigate were used in the construction of the sloop.
The frigate was never formally stricken from the Naval Vessel Register — a wooden, sailing man-of-war called Constellation was continuously listed from 1797-1955.
Supporting the position that they are different ships are the facts that the sloop was designed anew from the keel up (without reference to the frigate) and was planned to have been built even if the frigate had not been in the yard during that period. In March 1989 researchers Dana M Wegner and Colan Ratliff from the David Taylor Research Center came upon the builder's hull half model of the Constellation in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. This was important because half models are only built for new designs, not rebuilds, and the use of half models was introduced after 1797. Besides evaluating the half model the researchers also reviewed all the evidence used in the debate to date, concluding with the help of FBI and BATF forensics that many of the rebuild supporting documents were forgeries. In 1991 they published their findings in a paper titled, Fouled Anchors: The Constellation Question Answered and concluded that they are different ships.[4] The proof advanced in this report was confirmed during the 1999 renovation. At that time evidence was uncovered pointing to the construction of an entirely new sloop-of-war of the 1850s era.
 
I posted the links in the appropriate area in Photos of Real Ships and also in the Models in Museums. But for redundancy, I am posting them here since I started the original topic here:

USSConstellation
http://shipsofscale.com/Maryland/USSConstellation/ussconstellation.html

Navy Academy Museum
http://shipsofscale.com/Maryland/NavyAcademyMuseum/museum.html


Air and Space Museum

...and those that are interested in Air and Space,, here is a link to it:
http://shipsofscale.com/Maryland/AirSpaceMuseum/airandspace.html
 
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